


Alpha Pact Fics

by Vinnocent



Series: Heroes and Wolves [15]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Drowning, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mind Manipulation, Self-Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25038907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: Chris and Tyler conspire over who will be kidnapped to by the darach next. An FBI agent shows up. Allison, Scott, and Stiles ritually sacrifice themselves in order to locate their missing parents.
Relationships: Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall, Scott McCall/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Heroes and Wolves [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/117640
Kudos: 2





	1. One to Go, pt 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yet another reminder that this fic is just being uploaded from where it previously appeared on Tumblr. I am not currently writing new fic and do not plan to anytime soon.

“Tyler.”

Tyler looked up from the book he’d been reading on the couch. _1984_ by George Orwell. “Yeah?” he asked.

“Can I talk to you?” Chris asked. He was standing over him with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

This, of course, only functioned to confuse Tyler. “Yeah?” he said.

“Privately?” said Chris.

Tyler considered him for a moment. Then, he shrugged and sat up, putting his book away. “Lead the way,” he said, and Chris did. He led the way up the stairs and into his study. Once Tyler had entered, he closed the door behind them.

Chris turned back to Tyler and said, stiffly, “Agrona tells me that you never messaged her last night to tell her about the fight at the hospital.”

Tyler crossed his arms and pursed his lips in a manner rather like Chris’s teenage daughter. “And I told her that I _did_ ,” he said. “There was a storm. Signal loss happens.”

“Tyler, I don’t care that you didn’t,” said Chris. “In fact, that’s why I decided to ask for your help.”

Tyler eyed him suspiciously. “You want my help because I failed to help you?” he repeated.

“You referenced last night that my mother saved your life,” Chris said. “Or at least, you hold some past action of hers in similar regard. It’s easy to tell that you not only respect her, but you revere her.”

Tyler watched Chris carefully. Finally, he said, “I was living in a _skull_. That’s the only part of my host that survived the blast. The skull and brain matter. It was a miracle I wasn’t killed with her, and it was all I could do to avoid necrosis. She saved me. She was trying to escape the Yeerk pool complex through the collapsed Taxxon tunnels and, of all things, she took the time to save that skull. She found me inside. She put me in good water. She found the kandrona I needed to survive. Eventually, after fleeing the city, she found me Tyler. Neither of them knew what to expect. All Tyler had signed up for, at first, was to help interrogate me.”

Chris glanced toward the door. “She hoped you could tell her where David was,” he realized.

“I couldn’t,” he said. “I’d never heard of David Shepherd. But, I told her, if he was the price of my life, then I would make sure that it was paid. And then I showed them what I could do for Tyler, and we made our arrangement.”

“It’s been twenty years,” said Chris. “Surely, you’re aware that there’s not a good chance of finding him alive anymore?”

Tyler squinted at him. “I think you misunderstand her,” he said. “She knows that. She knew it even then, though I think she used to have more hope back then. But even if all she finds are bones… then at least she can bury them. She loves him, all of you, in a way I don’t honestly understand. Tyler does, so I have an idea, but…” He shrugged. “She just wants to… unite.”

Chris dropped his gaze to the floor. Slowly, he nodded. “I suppose I’ve let her down,” he said.

“I don’t think you could,” said Tyler.

Chris nodded again, more firmly. “That’s what I wanted to know,” he said. “Now let me tell you something.” He finally moved around to the desk and took a seat there, Tyler watching him curiously. “I’ve asked Allison to hold back on telling Agrona, saying I didn’t want to worry her or inspire her to do something stupid. But it won’t take her long to figure it out.

“We have reason to believe that Jennifer Blake, the darach, is going to take a guardian from the Argent family next,” Chris continued to explain. “I want to make sure it’s the right one.”

Slowly, a smile spread across Tyler’s face. “You know,” he said. “Gerard’s still available.”

Chris shook his head. “No matter what he’s done, I’m not the sort to offer my father up for the chopping block,” he said. “Besides, I think you and I both know he wouldn’t be an ideal sacrifice.”

Tyler seemed confused for a moment. “A good sacrifice… being someone who values others above themselves?” he asked.

“When it comes to guardians, yes,” said Chris. He looked at Tyler strangely. Even among people who _were_ bad parents, they usually understood that putting children first was the culturally accepted standard.

“No, I can confirm from Gerard’s memories that he does not contain that attribute,” Tyler said, nodding stiffly.

“You…” Chris blinked up at him. “You have my father’s memories?” he asked.

“That was Agrona’s chosen punishment,” Tyler said. His grin was gleeful and merciless, and Chris’s doubts began to surface again. “Me. Once a week, for the remainder of my availability and his life, I will crawl in his head and have him remember one of the many, many times he’s hurt someone. Killed someone. But you see, memories are fragile things. Subject to change. To new interpretation. To manipulation. A mixed signal here, a few hormones there, and Gerard’s reliving it from the other perspective. For the mere minute I’m in there, pulling his strings, he’ll genuinely believe that he’s Kate… Allison… Scott… Jackson… so very many nameless werewolves. And he’ll suffer what Gerard does to them.”

Chris watched him for a long moment. Then, “So I take it you don’t have any moral objection manipulating my mother and daughter to ensure that I’m taken instead of Agrona?”

Tyler shrugged. “I’m fairly certain morals are a human affliction which I have no intention of catching,” he said.

– –

When Scott came down that morning, Cassie was still on the couch, staring at a blank television. He hesitated on the stairs. Then… “Have you been there all night?” he asked.

She glanced up at him blearily, and he could tell that not only had she been crying, but she probably hadn’t slept at all. “What time is it?” she asked with a small, exhausted voice.

“Six thirty,” Scott told her. Her only response was to turn over on the couch. He watched her uncertainly. Eventually, he made his way over and sat on the arm of the couch, next to her feet. “Cassie… Why were you with Marco?” he asked.

She turned back over, but she kept her eyes on the ceiling instead of him. “Fifteen years ago, Jake came to get us. He said Ax had been caught. That we were going to get him,” she explained. “It was blatantly a suicide mission, and I didn’t think Ax would want us to die for him. So, I turned Jake down. Tobias and Marco did not. Tobias, I understand. Ax was his uncle. And Jake… I think Jake still feels a responsibility toward us, and it has _twisted_ his views of what a reasonable action is. To keep from losing one of us, he’d compromise all of us.

“Marco… Marco, I don’t really get,” she admitted. “I expected him to turn Jake down. But maybe he’d changed a lot more than I’d thought.” She shook her head. “And then they were gone. Fifteen years and not a word. Halfway in, Marco was pronounced dead _in absentia_. Loren later did the same for Tobias. I’m not sure anyone filed for Jake. I don’t guess he had beneficiaries.”

“Loren was the mother of an Animorph?” Scott asked, surprised.

Cassie nodded, too tired to ask how Scott knew that word. “Then, the other day, Air Force Space Command picked up a signal. From them. They’d come back.” She took a few deep breaths before continuing, “USAF came and got me, as you know, just a couple hours before landing. No one had any idea what to expect on that ship, and they wanted all the force they could get.

“Watching it come in was like watching a ghost ship come into dock. It was unreal. Eerie. And then there was… them. That had been…” She shook her head. “Something happened out there. Whatever Tobias and Jake told them, they kept the answers from me. I was just enforcement. A friendly face to calm them. So, I spent most of my time with Marco.

“He was… He is _not_ okay. I could tell that immediately,” she said. “I didn’t have the privilege of seeing his psychological profile but he… He couldn’t come to terms with reality. He doesn’t think this is real. And I remembered the way the military broke him before. The way they used to exacerbate all his symptoms. After a week, I was finally able to find a way to sneak a message to Eva. I don’t know how she did it, but she got the transfer. As soon as quarantine lifted, I was able to drive Marco to meet her. Yesterday. We stopped at a truckstop for food and the restroom, and I messaged Melissa. I was considering telling her, despite the non-disclosure agreement. At the very least, she deserved to know I was around again.”

“And that’s when Marco disappeared?” Scott asked.

She nodded. “I thought he’d morphed and run away,” she said. “I wanted to search for him myself before calling it in. I was afraid they’d lock him up again, and he’d never get away from them again. But now…”

“We’ll find him, Cassie,” Scott assured her. He reached forward and touched her leg as comfortingly as he could. “I promise. Him and the sheriff, they are /not/ going to die.”

– –

Stiles sat in the Beacon Hills Police Station, waiting to be interviewed about his father’s disappearance. At last, he heard someone say “agent,” and he looked up, sighting a tall, slim, blonde woman speaking to Deputy Graeme. At first, he thought she was maybe someone’s lawyer. But then, as she thanked Graeme and headed toward him, he almost forgot how to breathe.

“Hello,” she told him. “Stiles Stilinski?”

“Um…”

“I know this must be intimidating, but I assure you,” said the woman who looked exactly like the blonde girl from the photos pinned up in Lydia’s guest bedroom. “Talking to me is the _best_ way to get your father back.”

“Uh…”

“Stiles,” Deputy Graeme warned him sharply. “Behave yourself. You _need_ to talk to Special Agent Berenson.”

And that was when the panic attack started.

– –

In Derek’s loft, Cora was whimpering in her sleep as her brother watched over her. His pack hovered nearby. “She’s dying, isn’t she?” Erica asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Derek admitted.

“So what’re you gonna do?” asked Isaac.

“I don’t know,” Derek admitted.

“You think maybe you wanna figure something out?” Boyd challenged.

“Because while everyone else was fighting to save people, you were _here_ ,” said Erica.

“Rolling around in the sheets with the _actual killer_ ,” Isaac snarled.

“There have been _twelve_ sacrifices,” said Boyd.

“Not to mention the murders to cover up the murders,” said Isaac. “And the murders incited from the alpha pack.”

“And there’s about to be three more,” said Erica. “Soon as she gets her hands on Argent or a suitable substitute.”

“Four more,” Boyd corrected, gesturing to Cora.

“And you are doing _nothing_ ,” Erica snarled.

Isaac’s lip trembled as he held himself steady between them. “Why did you do this to us, Derek?” he asked.

“Was it just for the power?” asked Boyd.

“Were you bored?” Isaac challenged.

Erica stepped forward, leaning close to Derek’s face as he struggled to ignore her. “Were you lonely?” she asked in a mocking tone.

“Maybe,” Derek admitted, refusing to take his eyes off Cora, like she might slip away when he wasn’t looking.

Erica snorted and moved away. Boyd paced away from the group, out into the larger area of the loft. Isaac stood watching Derek.

“I told Cora I wouldn’t leave,” Derek said. “I’ll help the others when I figure out how to help her.”

“No,” said Isaac. “ _We’ll_ help the others.”

“You just keep doing what you do best, Derek,” Erica said as she headed toward the door.

“Nothing at all,” Boyd said. He followed after her, and Isaac followed after them.

Eventually, Derek realized that he never heard the door shut. He turned to see the governor standing there with a raised eyebrow. “ _Damn_ ,” she said.

Derek rolled his eyes and returned his attention to Cora. “What do you want?” he demanded.

“To help,” she said, and he heard in her voice something he hadn’t expected to. A tone of genuine kindness and empathy. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.


	2. One to Go, pt. 2

“The title is ‘guardian,’ Allison,” said Chris as he opened the door to his study for Allison, Scott, and Stiles. “Let’s be honest; that’s not something I’ve really lived up to lately.”

“But she took Scott and Stiles’s fathers,” Allison objected. They moved into the room, and Scott sat wearily in a chair across from Chris’s desk while Stiles paced the floor. Chris walked around his desk while Allison took up a position opposite him and continued to argue, “Braeden said herself, there was probably a tie.”

“And Cassie said herself that there’s also a good chance he ran off,” Chris objected. “Which, according to Melissa, he has a history of doing.”

“Then also consider the fact that someone put ‘Argent’ up in large block letters on the elevator doors,” said Stiles. “A nice little warning just to make sure you understand what’s coming for you.”

“It might have been someone else,” said Allison. “Like Morrell, maybe. She’s still trying to help us.”

“Then, she needs to get on that a lot faster, okay?” Stiles complained. “Seeing as how the lunar eclipse is less than two freaking nights away.” Sighing heavily, he took a couple steps back and dropped into the chair that was next to Scott.

“Hey,” said Scott, reaching over to touch his arm reassuringly. “It’s okay. We’re going to get him.”

Stiles shook his head. “He could already be dead,” he said quietly.

“I don’t think so,” said Chris. “There’s something about Blake’s tactics. Like she’s still positioning. Still moving pieces into place.”

“And you’re one of them,” Allison pointed out.

Chris smirked. “Then let’s not wait around to see her next move,” he said. He picked up his map of the telluric currents and spread it out on the desk. “Everything she’s done has been along the telluric currents. So, Stilinski and Guerra have to be somewhere in one of those currents, right?” He glanced at the morose boys across from his desk. “Stiles. Scott. If we’re going to find them, we need your help.”

Stiles just shook his head. “You seriously want to go after her?”

“She wants to take you,” Scott pointed out. “And you want to walk right up to her?”

“Yeah, no offense, but what’s the difference between you and them?” Stiles demanded.

“He has us,” Agrona said, walking in.

Tyler came in behind her, walked up to the desk, and dropped a plastic gun on it. “Dracon beam.” He dropped a small orb. “Distortion field.” He dropped something with a long handle and a loop at the end. “Irregulator matrix.” He dropped some kind of ring-shaped device with complex controls around the outer edge. “Atomic destabilizer. And these are just the things I grabbed at random because Agrona wanted to make a point.”

“We are ready for this,” said Agrona. “We are potentially more ready than any other authority out there, legal, extralegal, or vigilante.”

“We have one priority right now,” said Chris. “And that is to find Marco and the sheriff. We’ve got a map and every clue we need to figure this out. The thing we don’t have is time. Which is why I need all of you.”

Stiles and Scott exchanged glances. Stiles sighed, nodded, and looked up at Chris. “Where do we start?”

Chris pulled out his UV light to illuminate the hidden marks on his map and pushed Tyler’s weapons off to the side. “The places where the sacrifices have been committed have usually been different from the places where the bodies were found,” he said. “Now, I think the placement has to do with the strength of the currents. So.” He pointed to a location. “There’s the school.” Another. “The animal clinic.” Another. “The bank.”

“Why do you think she would use the same place twice?” asked Agrona.

“Because this one wasn’t successful,” Chris said, pointing again to the bank.

“When she failed with Deaton, the sacrifice that took his place was found somewhere else,” said Scott.

“That could mean something,” Tyler said, leaning forward.

“That’s just one place so far,” said Stiles. “We may need more help.”

“More help than them?” Scott asked, gesturing to the Argents and Tyler. “Like who?”

“What about Lydia?” Allison suggested.

All three adults turned to her, confused. “Who?” asked Tyler.

“We sit next to each other in class?” Allison reminded him. “Best grades in school?”

Tyler snapped his fingers. “Right! Yeah, okay.” Then, “Wait, why?”

“She, um, finds dead bodies,” Scott explained sheepishly. “By accident.”

“So do lots of people,” Agrona said.

Stiles raised his hand and began listing them off on his fingers, “Death of the video store clerk Peter killed _while_ it happened. Was able to be manipulate by Peter _while he was dead_. A deer ran into her car, her dog bit her, and she was present for the bird attack _all_ on the same day. She went out to the drugstore and _accidentally_ ended up at the pool across town where that guy was killed. She wandered into the music room _accidentally_ when the music teacher turned up missing. Of all the delusions we experienced at the Glen Capri, she was the only one hearing the past victims. She discovered that the history teacher is, in fact, a robot who was replaced by another robot after the first went missing, simply by wandering into his classroom and ‘sensing’ that he was dead. She was then targeted by Blake for being a threat.”

“Are you saying she’s psychic?” asked Agrona.

Allison, Stiles, and Scott exchanged glances. “She’s something,” said Scott.

– –

Derek sat on the edge of Cora’s bed and did the best he could to take her pain away. But it was too much. Even pulling as much as he could, all he was able to do was ease her breathing slightly.

“You want to be careful with things like that,” said Eva. She watched as Derek started panting and sweating. “You know going too far could kill you.”

“What do you know about it?” he asked.

“You werewolves.” She clucked disapprovingly. “All you think of is brute force. You assume everything else comes with it. Knowledge. Intelligence. Skill. It isn’t true; you have to work for all these things separately. It’s especially bad, in my experience, with born werewolves. You think you know everything.”

Derek released Cora’s arm and sat there, watching helplessly. “This is my _life_ ,” Derek said. “Why wouldn’t I know everything about it?”

“You think the Stilinski kid knows everything about being a human?”

Derek looked over his shoulder at her. She took that as a cue to continue. “Your uncle has encouraged a delusion,” she said, “possibly the same one he believed, that because you are the heir to Talia’s legacy that all she was will somehow bestow itself upon you. That all you have to do is be in the right place and strike the right pose. Become an alpha. Get a pack. Stay in Beacon Hills. Throw that Hale name around.”

“You’re saying I can’t measure up?” Derek snipped.

“Good, you’re listening.”

Most days, Derek would’ve moved to punch her. But he just didn’t have the energy for it anymore. Let her abuse him. Say whatever made her content. She was probably right anyway, like his _former_ betas.

Eva moved closer. “Talia became what she was through work,” she explained. “She strove every day to be _better_. To gather knowledge of all things. To become a wiser person. To become not only fierce but clever in battle. A modern day Solomon. Because _she_ understood what real power is. It’s not the color of your eyes. It’s not how many other werewolves you can claw down. It’s the power to _protect_. Talia became the leader she was not to lord it over others, but so her children could live without fear.

“And if she could witness this past year, she would weep.”

“DON’T YOU EVER SPEAK OF HER LIKE YOU KNOW HER!” Derek snarled, leaping to his feet with his claws and fangs bared, his eyes lit bright red.

Eva sneered at him. “And don’t you ever presume to know what I know,” she countered.

Derek watched her for a moment. And then, slowly, he calmed again and the lycanthropic features melted away. “That’s how I know you,” he realized. “It wasn’t from the television. You knew her. I saw you at her funeral.”

Eva smiled more gently then, but there was something else mixed in. Grief or regret or maybe even something more vicious… like blame. “She saved my life,” she said. “Now, let me save yours and Cora’s.”

Derek shook his head. “If you know how to save Cora… Yes. Anything,” he said. “But my life doesn’t need saving.”

Eva smirked again. “Are you sure?”

– –

“It’s empty,” Agrona said, stepping into the bank vault.

“Be careful anyway,” Chris said, following his mother and daughter inside. Tyler came in behind him, then moved around behind Agrona.

She rolled her eyes. “Tyler, do you not understand the term ‘fan o–’” She was interrupted when Tyler shot her with a low-powered Dracon.

“GRANDMA!” Allison screamed, but Chris grabbed her and pulled her away. At first, she thought he was pulling her to safety away from Tyler, but she realized he was only pulling her to the bars on the wall, where he could cuff her. Allison struggled against the handcuffs. “What the hell are you doing?!” she demanded.

“I’m sorry,” Chris told her. “But you’re just going to have to trust me.” He stepped away from her and dropped his weapons to the floor.

“Tyler!” Allison cried. “Tyler, do something!”

“I am,” he sneered. “I’m making sure that the Argent that goes isn’t the one I like.”

“That’s insane!” she objected. “Do you really think she’d ever forgive that?”

Tyler seemed genuinely confused. “Why not?” he asked.

But it was too late. Jennifer had arrived. She stepped up into the doorway of the vault and looked over the scene before her. She grinned broadly. “Now, _this_ is a sacrifice,” she said.

Tyler put his hands up and backed up out of the way, but was sure to stay between her and Agrona. What his attention wasn’t on was Allison. She lunged as far she could and was just barely able to get his Dracon out of his hip holster, but she immediately dropped it. “No!” she screamed. She stretched and squirmed desperately, trying to reach the gun. “No, you can’t!”

The vault door closed, and her dad was gone.


	3. Go, pt.1

“Scott’s dad?” Lydia repeated. “I thought Scott didn’t have a dad.”

“So did literally everyone,” said Scott. “I think _he_ thought that.”

“Fifteen years is a long absence to still count as a parent,” said Lydia.

“Maybe it’s vindictive?” Stiles guessed. “Cassie says the Chee won’t work with the Animorphs because the Animorphs manipulated them into a violent action. That’s why she’s searching independently; so the Chee will still work with us.”

Lydia sighed. “I don’t understand what _I_ can do, though,” she said. “I mean… I get that I’m some kind of, like, human geiger counter for death. But I don’t know how to turn it on and off yet. All I know is that she tried to kill me because of…” Suddenly, she stopped, thinking.

Stiles and Scott exchanged glances. “Because of what?” asked Scott.

When she didn’t respond, Stiles waved his hand in her face. “Hey, Lydia! What?”

She looked up at him. “When she called me a ‘banshee,’” she said. “She was surprised by it. What if that’s _not_ why she tried to kill me?” she asked.

Scott’s brow knitted in confusion. “Then why did she?”

Lydia nodded. “That’s what we need to find out.”

– –

Eva slid into the passenger seat of the town car. “We can go now,” she told Braeden.

“You realize,” said Braeden, still scowling, “that this is exactly what Qezek wanted? For him to be depowered so that he wouldn’t be able to go after the alphas without her.”

“Oh, I’m counting on it.”

– –

At school, they found Boyd, Erica, and Isaac, but the twins still hadn’t returned. “Aiden’s not texting me back,” Lydia reported with some frustration.

“ _They_ were your go-to solution?” Erica asked skeptically.

“She wanted to kill me over _something_!” Lydia insisted.

“Why don’t we just go to Morrell?” Boyd suggested. “I mean… she kind of knows everything.”

“Can she even help?” asked Lydia. “I mean, they’re supposed to _avoid_ violence.”

“This about finding people who are supposed to be sacrificed, Lydia,” Stiles argued. “That is turning something violent into something happy.”

“But if it means going against the alphas, then it’s violent,” said Isaac.

“But they said she’s the one with the _proactive_ approach,” said Boyd.

“Look, it can’t hurt to ask,” said Erica. “I mean, it’s a lot less dumb than asking the twins. What is so interesting on your phone, Scott?”

Scott swallowed. “Um,” he said. He glanced at Stiles.

Stiles’s heartbeat began to speed up as his chest filled with dread. “What?” he demanded. “What is it?”

“They’re texts from Allison,” he said quietly. “She says that her dad got taken. That he and Tyler betrayed her and her grandmother so that they could ensure that her dad would be taken instead of her grandmother. Tyler’s currently on lockdown in their house, but they have _no_ idea where her dad is. There _was_ a tracker, but Jennifer has already destroyed it.”

“Oh god,” Stiles muttered. His heartbeat was still accelerating.

Scott shoved the phone in his pocket. “Stiles?” he said. “Stiles, it’s going to be okay.”

Scott pulled Stiles into a hug. “Stiles, we still have time okay?” But Stiles wasn’t responding. He was hyperventilating and wobbling. Scott could hear his heartbeat thudding.

“What’s going on?” Lydia demanded. “What’s happening to him?”

“It’s a panic attack,” Scott said, still not letting go of Stiles. “I’ll take care of it. You go to Morrell.” He didn’t wait for an answer as he pulled Stiles down the hall toward the bathroom. Luckily, there was no one else there, and he sat Stiles down in the corner against the cool tile. “Okay, Stiles, it’s going to be okay,” Scott told him. “Everything’s going to be okay. We still have time. We have loads of time. And you know these Argents, nothing’s ever simple with them, okay? I don’t think Allison’s dad handed himself over _just_ to protect Agrona. He probably thinks he can do something, and he might be right. I mean, he’s an arms dealer. Tyler’s… something. These people are _equipped_. Marco’s some kind of army experiment, I think. Your dad’s a _sheriff_. If anyone can handle this, it’s them. It’s them, okay. So don’t give up. Don’t give up, because at least two of these people are among the most impressive people I know, and we’re pretty awesome ourselves. So we can do this, Stiles. We can do this.”

Stiles was staring at him. “Scott…?” he said slowly, staring at him like he’d grown horns.

And then Scott kissed him. When he pulled back, Stiles was still staring at him. “What?” he asked.

“You were just…” Stiles shook his head, deciding not to tell him about the very brief eye color change. “Have you been kissing Isaac Lahey with those lips?” he asked.

Scott seemed confused. “Uh…”

“Yuh-huh,” said Stiles. He stood up, saying, “I don’t have time for this shit.” On a second thought, he extended a hand to Scott who was still crouched on the floor, trying to figure out whether he’d done something wrong. “Come on. Let’s go save the everyone’s asses.”

Upon exiting the restroom, they headed toward the guidance office just as Danielle, Heather’s friend, was leaving. Boyd and Isaac were standing outside the door, trying to look intimidating, while Erica and Lydia argued inside. “You can’t just look at those!” Lydia insisted. “They’re private!”

“What’s happening?” Scott asked, pushing into the small office.

“She’s going through my files!” Lydia told him angrily.

“Oh, get over it,” Erica said. “We wanted to know what Blake wanted with you, right? Besides, there’s nothing in here.”

“Nothing in there?” Stiles repeated, incredulous. “That thing’s like two inches thick.”

Erica continued flipping through pages. “Yeeeeah… It’s all trees.”

“Trees?” everyone repeated.

Erica started plucking out pages and dropping them on the desk. “Tree. Tree. More tree. Here’s some trees.”

“So I like drawing trees, okay?” Lydia snapped.

“And then giving them to the guidance counselor?” Isaac asked from outside.

“Actually…” Lydia looked at the slowly growing pile on the desk. “I don’t remember giving her more than a couple.”

“Lydia,” Stiles said, sorting through the papers on the desk. “These are _all_ the same tree.”

“What?” she demanded.

“They’re the same tree! Look!” He spread out the papers so they were all in the same position. Though they were all in different sizes and on different papers and drawn with a variety of pens and pencils, they were all exactly the same.

“Why would I do that?” Lydia asked.

“Actually,” Erica said, on the other side of the desk, “from this angle, it looks like roots.”

Stiles looked at her, looked back at the drawings, and considered them for a moment. He started turning them around. “They… they kind of do,” he agreed.

“Why would I be drawing roots?” Lydia demanded.

“The Nemeton,” Boyd realized, and Scott, Stiles, and Lydia turned to him. “Peter told us once why Derek’s eyes were blue. I’m not really sure what his goal was in telling us that; it was a horrible story. But the Hale pack used to hide in a root cellar – literally a cellar full of tree roots – when shit got bad. It was under the stump of a holy tree they called the Nemeton.”

“Well, where is it?!” Stiles demanded.

Boyd shifted his weight and glanced aside, toward Scott. “They, uh… They don’t remember,” he said. “Peter said Talia took the memories.”

They hurried out of the guidance office only to see someone _very_ familiar coming up the hall toward them. “McCall?” she called out, and Scott stopped in his tracks.

Lydia was gaping. “What the fuck?” she demanded.

“Oh, yeah, and _she’s_ here,” said Stiles.

“She who?” asked Isaac, but Stiles was already pushing him away.

“Alright, Scott, buddy, you have fun talking to the nice FBI agent,” Stiles said, herding the group down the adjoining hall. “We’ll just be running off to class now. See you at the vet’s later?”

Special Agent Berenson watched them go. “Well, that’s not suspicious at all,” she said. She turned back to Scott. “Can we talk?”

– –

Chris Argent woke with a gasp. He looked around in the dark, trying to understand where he was.

“You okay over there?” asked the sheriff.

Chris turned as best he could to see that he was accompanied by two others, who also appeared to be tied to support beams. One was the sheriff, tied with rope. The other was a slightly younger, much slimmer person wearing the slate blue camouflage trousers, sand-colored t-shirt, and sage-colored boots of an Airman Battle Uniform, though he was currently missing the rest of the uniform. His hair was also _far_ longer than allowed in _any_ military, gathered in a loosened ponytail behind him. He was tied with rope and wire, there were scars over his face and arms, and he was currently unconscious.

“Is that Marco Guerra?” Chris asked.

“Yeah, it’s been a while, and he doesn’t give straight answers,” said the sheriff, “but I’m pretty sure he is.” He shook his head. “He seems to barely recall who Melissa and Scott even _are_. Why would she choose _him_ for a guardian?”

Chris shrugged. “Calculation error? The advantage of surprise? He happens to channel metaphysical energy particularly well?” Chris glanced over the form again, then at himself and the sheriff. “Why does he have wires, and we don’t?”

The sheriff shook his head. “I don’t know, but he keeps setting them off,” he said. “He said something about transformation, but he’s spent most of his time awake making no sense, so…”

Chris frowned, uncertain if the sheriff knew what would be sense-making if Marco was a werewolf and talking about it. Having no more to analyze about Marco, he looked around again. And then he laughed.

The sheriff watched him. “Is it just me, or has somebody been here before?” he asked.

“Years ago,” Chris told him. Of course, knowing where he was only helped if he could get out. He began to twist, trying to work his legs toward his hands.

“Hate to disappoint you,” said the sheriff, “but we watched her take your ankle knife.”

Sighing, Chris tried another position.

“And the knife in your sleeve.”

With a groan, Chris tried again.

“And the switchblade in your other sleeve.”

Chris began to move again, but the door to the root cellar was suddenly pulled open.

“And the EMP in your back pocket,” Jennifer said. She descended the rickety, old wooden steps. “Argent,” she began to taunt. She advanced toward Chris. “The French word for silv– AGH!“

She cried out as Marco suddenly struck his legs out, kicking her legs out from under her. She landed heavily on his legs, and he cried out in pain. Her hologram briefly flickered. Marco snarled in anger. “What the _fuck_?” he demanded. “ _Chee_? What happened to your non-violence programming?”

“Sometimes,” she said, bringing herself to her feet again. “Sometimes you have to make _sacrifices_ for peace.”

“The fuck are you talking about?” Marco demanded.

“She intends to make human sacrifices out of us,” Chris explained wearily.

“Are you _broken_?” Marco demanded. “God, you are, aren’t you? That’s why your face is so–” He went from words to gagging noises when Jennifer quickly grabbed hold of his throat.

“I’d be quiet if I were you,” she sneered, but Marco just rolled his eyes. That was when Chris noticed it. The eye. One of Marco’s eyes had a metallic sheen, and the iris had a slight red glow.

Jennifer released him and stood. “If I were to _accidentally_ kill you, I could always go fetch Melissa to complete my sacrifice. She’s only guardian to one, like these two, but it’ll work well enough.”

“I only have one kid,” said Marco.

“Correct,” she said, stooping to sneer in his face. “But you saved the _world_. Now, it’s time again to give–“

Marco kicked her in the face that time, knocking her backward. “God, that hurts!” he complained, his ropes sparking and burning as fur spread across his flesh. She stood again, just as his partial gorilla morph snapped the ropes. He lunged for her.

She didn’t even flinch. She calmly reached out and sent electric shocks through his body the moment she touched him. He collapsed, screaming in agony until he demorphed. She pushed him back against the support beam as he struggled to stay conscious. “I wish you hadn’t made me do that,” she said as she retied him. “If you’d only play along, I could make this easy on you. I don’t want to hurt you. This is for the greater good. You understand. You’ve made these sacrifices before.”

“Tobias is going to be so mad at me,” Marco whimpered.

“And really,” Jennifer said as she moved to the charger for the wires. She turned it up. “If our goal is a better world, isn’t it better off without you?”


	4. Go, pt.2

“You want us to die?” Stiles asked incredulously.

“Yes,” said Braeden.

Deaton looked uneasy. “I’m not sure–” he began, but Braeden cut him off.

“No one asked you to be sure,” she said. She turned to Stiles, Lydia, and the betas. “Boyd, go to get Allison and Agrona. Tell them we need them in order to find the Nemeton and Chris. Erica, go retrieve Melissa from the hospital. Isaac, go find Cassie.”

– –

“Dude, stop trying,” Marco groaned. “This is painful to watch.”

“You have your eyes closed,” Chris pointed out.

“You been tied up before?” asked Stilinski, watching them both with suspicion.

Chris exhaled heavily and decided to give it a rest for a moment. “Many times,” he confessed, and Marco snickered at that.

Stilinski made a face. “What, is that… part of being a werewolf hunter?”

Marco laughed. “What?”

Chris glanced to Stilinski. “Stiles tell you?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Stilinski confessed. “I wasn’t sure how much of it I believed, but…”

“You two are serious?” Marco snorted. “God, this is the weirdest NPC conversation yet.”

“See?” said the sheriff. “Babbles.”

“NPC is video game terminology,” said Chris. “Non-player character. A character you interact with in a game that isn’t controlled by a real person.” He eyed Marco uncertainly. “You don’t think we’re real?”

Marco shrugged. “Sorry, I know you guys don’t like being told that,” he said.

Chris and the sheriff exchanged worried glances.

– –

“I’m sorry,” said Melissa, squinting hard at Braeden. “Did you just ask me to drown my son?”

“No, actually,” said Braeden. “You’re going to drown Stiles. Cassie’s going to drown your son. Aside from Scott, you are the person in this room who is closest to Stiles. And while Cassie’s connection to Scott has been frayed, perhaps to the point of severance, their shared connection to Marco may work in their favor.”

“You’re not arguing the right points!” Melissa objected. “You’re still asking us to drown our children!”

“ _Ritually_ drown,” Deaton corrected quickly. “They probably won’t die.”

“Did you just say ‘probably’?” Agrona demanded.

“Allison, Stiles, and Scott are going to be surrogate sacrifices for Chris, Konstanty, and Marco,” said Braeden. “They’ll be dead for a few seconds, then remain unconscious until the experience is over.”

“Only a few seconds?” Cassie repeated, and Braeden nodded in confirmation.

“But this is a dangerous thing for more than one reason,” said Deaton. “They’ll be giving power back to the Nemeton, a place that hasn’t had power for a long time. This kind of power is like a magnet. It attracts the supernatural, the kind of things that a family like the Argents can fill the pages of a bestiary with. It will draw them here, like a beacon.”

“Been there,” Agrona said, unamused.

“Done that,” Melissa agreed.

“Got the military contract,” Cassie sneered.

Meanwhile, Stiles elbowed Scott and whispered, “You think he means ‘beastiality’?”

Scott blushed and shoved him back. “Oh my god, shut up!”

“You dated one of these?” Agrona asked Allison.

“I wouldn’t judge if I were you, Grandma,” Allison warned her.

“Is that all we have to worry about?” asked Cassie. “Death and monsters?”

“No,” said Braeden. “It’s going to affect them. There will be a permanent, spiritual scar. You won’t see it, but it will be there. It’ll follow them the rest of their lives.”

“Like a tattoo,” Scott mumbled.

“Yeah, and you’d know all about those, wouldn’t you?” Melissa snipped, hitting him lightly on the arm.

– –

Cora woke and looked around her. The loft. She was back in Derek’s loft. “Derek?” she asked.

“I’m here,” he said, squeezing her hand lightly.

Relieved, she sat up and pulled him into a hug. It was good to feel safe and at home again. But something… _something_ was different.

– –

Melissa emptied the last bag of ice into the middle tub, already filled with water, ice, and mistletoe, muttering to herself all the while about various hazards. Braeden turned to the teens. “Did you each bring an item that connects you to your parents?”

Stiles held out his hand, showing a heavily dented sheriff’s badge. “Um, I’ve got my dad’s badge,” he mumbled. “Qezek kind of crushed it in her hand, so I tried hammering it out a bit. Still doesn’t look great.”

“Well, it doesn’t need to look good if it has meaning,” Deaton assured him.

Melissa caught sight of Allison’s item. “Is that an actual silver bullet?” she asked.

“My dad made it,” she explained while Agrona, behind her, gripped her shoulders protectively. “It’s kind of a ceremonial thing. When one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the Code.”

“Scott?” asked Braeden.

He just stood there looking lost. “I… I don’t…”

“I told you I’d take care of it,” Cassie said. She pulled what looked likes a small wallet out of her back pocket. Inside were five tiny glass vials. She pulled one out and handed it to Scott. “This is hair from Big Jim, a gorilla we had at our local zoo, The Gardens. It was the first morph Marco acquired, and it was his battle morph. It saw him through to our very last mission together. No one else has ever acquired Big Jim. All our morphs are retired, so that the original Animorphs will be immediately recognizable.”

Scott took the vial and looked down at it. He couldn’t possibly describe what he was feeling. “You mean… Marco… he can become this _exact_ gorilla?”

Cassie nodded. “That’s how it works,” she said. “We touch an animal and concentrate on it, and it goes into a daze as we acquire its DNA. From then on, we can become it for up to two hours at a time.”

“Only two hours?” asked Stiles, surprised.

Cassie nodded again. “If you go over two hours, you’re stuck forever,” she told him. “That’s what happened to Tobias. Our first mission. We were young and naive, and we thought we could save everyone. Instead, we barely escaped with our lives, and Tobias was stuck as a red-tailed hawk for the rest of his life.”

“It’s time,” said Deaton. “It has to be now.”

Stiles, Allison, and Scott began climbing into the tubs. Slowly. Shivering.

“You don’t have to do this,” Agrona told her granddaughter. “Chris has an ultrasonic emitter with him.”

“ _If_ Tyler was telling the truth, and _if_ Dad was able to turn it on, it’s pure chance as to whether Boyd, Erica, and Isaac wander into range,” said Allison. “That’s why we sent them, but we can’t rely on that alone.” She forced herself to sit in the tub.

“By the way,” Stiles said as he leaned back in the tub, preparing to be pushed down. “In case I die– OW!” He rubbed his head where Melissa had swatted him.

“Don’t you even think about it,” she told him.

“I just thought Cassie would want to know there’s a Special Agent Berenson in town,” he said quickly.

“What?” said Cassie.

Scott nodded. “It’s true,” he said. “She’s tall. Blonde. She’s… y’know… pretty-ish.”

Braeden rolled her eyes. “I’ll explain it later,” she promised. “Please, we have to get them under _now_! While the currents still favor us.”

“I don’t want to,” Agrona whispered, and Allison realized Agrona was shaking more than she was. She was on the verge of tears. “I don’t want to do this.”

“I know,” Deaton said sympathetically. “That’s why you have to.”

Allison touched her grandmother’s arm reassuringly. “It’s okay, Grandma,” she said. “I’m okay. This will work.”

Then, before she could stop herself, Agrona pushed Allison’s shoulders under the water. Melissa followed suit and pushed Stiles down. Cassie then pushed Scott down.

The three women exchanged nervous glances. And they waited.

– –

When Allison emerged from the tub, she found herself in a bright, white room. It was sort of like inside a Chee hologram, except this one had defined walls and florescent lights above them.

It also came equipped with a person.

She looked over at Scott and Stiles. They seemed to see him, too. Allison pulled herself out of the tub and walked over to him, sopping wet. He was a boy. Younger than her by a few years. Just on the cusp of teenage development, he was pimply, had the odd proportions of someone undergoing growth spurts, his straw-colored hair was cut in a bowl cut, and he wore a sneer like it was the only expression he knew.

He crossed his arms and waited for her to say something.

Stiles and Scott were looking at her funny. “Allison?” asked Scott.

“You know this kid?” asked Stiles.

Allison shook her head. “Only from photos. Only from talking to my grandmother. He disappeared before I was even born…

“His name is David.”


End file.
